[Guide] Japanese

[koudelkaW]

NOTE: This class/discussion is no longer taught/led by a teacher. However, please feel free to read through it and ask any questions that you may have or express any thoughts/opinions you have. Just please don't ask, "Can I join the class?" Because the answer is 'no'. Thank you.

JAPANESE

Minna-san, konnichiwa! biggrin I'm going to start doing a Japanese class. I'm rather new to teaching, so please bear with me smile

I've been studying Japanese at night school since November 2008, receiving ABC qualifications in Entry 2 Listening and Speaking, Reading and Writing, and I have just finished studying for Entry 3 Listening and Speaking. In September I will be studying for Entry 3 Reading and Writing.

In these classes, I will type 3 ways: Hiragana, Romaji and English (unless the lesson requires you to translate for yourself.)

For the class I would suggest three things:

1. You should add Japanese to your keyboard. To do this, I used this guide: Here

2. Sometimes it can be hard to sound the words correctly if you're reading them. I use this site to help me understand how the words sound: Here

3. If you are having trouble seeing the Hiragana/Katakana symbols in Firefox, try this guide: Here

 

[koudelkaW]

LESSONS

Coming soon! PMs will be sent to students when lessons are posted.

Lesson One

 

[koudelkaW]

STUDENTS

Please reply to the thread or send me a PM if you wish to be a student!

1. doistu

2. zabazor

3. zainith666

4. Abbie913

5. FlyingPinkElefantSaysMeow

6. KatsumiBatei

7. tori bites v--v

8. Chibi Chibi Sami

9. sassyangel37

 

[koudelkaW]

RULES

1. Always follow the rules of Gaia and the Guild.

2. When I post homework/assignments I expect them to be completed and handed in. Basically, if you have no excuse to not hand them in, I will not be happy.

3. If you are going to be away/busy, please let me know and I'll understand smile

4. Don't be afraid to ask questions! I'll try to answer them to the best of my abilities smile

 

[koudelkaW]

ALPHABET

To start off with, I'm going to put up a list of the alphabets: Hiragana and Katakana. Hiragana is for Japanese words, and Katakana is for foreign words. For example: こんにちわ (Konnichiwa), which means "Hello" in Japanese. オレンジ　ジュース (Orenji juusu), which means "Orange Juice". When you go to a place such as McDonalds in Japan, the Western items will typically be written in Katakana. You may be offered a hamburger, which is spelt as ハンバーガー (Hanbaagaa).

Hiragana

A, I, U, E, O - あ　い　う　え　お
KA, KI, KU, KE, KO - か　き　く　け　こ
SA, SHI, SU, SE, SO - さ　し　す　せ　そ
TA, CHI, TSU*, TE, TO - た　ち　つ　て　と
NA, NI, NU, NE, NO - な　に　ぬ　ね　の
HA**, HI, HU***, HE, HO - は　ひ　ふ　へ　ほ
MA, MI, MU, ME, MO - ま　み　む　め　も
YA, YU, YO - や　ゆ　よ
RA, RI, RU, RE, RO - ら　り　る　れ　ろ
WA, WO*****, N - わ　を　ん


*When the Hiragana for Tsu (つ） is small, it becomes a double letter. Itte (いって） As you can see, the Tsu becomes smaller than the other Hiragana to show its meaning. It appears before the Hiragana that needs to be a double letter. So the "Te" becomes "Tte".
**When Ha (は） is on its own instead of in a sentence, the sound becomes Wa. For example, わたし　は　エレン　です. Watashi wa Eren desu. I am Ellen.
***Sometimes The Hiragana for Hu (ふ） is pronounced as Fu.
****The Wo is used as O. (More about how to use this version of O when we get to the lesson.)

GA, GI, GU, GE, GO - が　ぎ　ぐ　げ　ご
ZA, JI, ZU, ZE, ZO - ざ　じ　ず　ぜ　ぞ
DA, DE, DO - だ　で　ど
BA, BI, BU, BE, BO - ば　び　ぶ　べ　ぼ
PA, PI, PU, PE, PO - ぱ　ぴ　ぷ　ぺ　ぽ

KYA, KYU, KYO - きゃ　きゅ　きょ
HYA, HYU, HYO - ひゃ　ひゅ　ひょ
SHA, SHU, SHO - しゃ　しゅ　しょ
MYA, MYU, MYO - みゃ　みゅ　みょ
CHA, CHU, CHO - ちゃ　ちゅ　ちょ
RYA, RYU, RYO - りゃ　りゅ　りょ
NYA, NYU, NYO - にゃ　にゅ　にょ
GYA, GYU, GYO - ぎゃ　ぎゅ　ぎょ
PYA, PYU, PYO - ぴゃ　ぴゅ　ぴょ
JA, JU, JO - じゃ　じゅ　じょ
BYA, BYU, BYO - びゃ　びゅ　びょ

As you can see from the set above, the second symbols in each of them are smaller. I believe this is to help you to recognise that they have a different meaning. (I am always translating them wrong xd )

Katakana

A, I, U, E, O - ア　イ　ウ　エ　オ
KA, KI, KU, KE, KO - カ　キ　ク　ケ　コ
SA, SHI, SU, SE, SO - サ　シ　ス　セ　ソ
TA, CHI, TSU, TE, TO - タ　チ　ツ　テ　ト
NA, NI, NU, NE, NO - ナ　ニ　ヌ　ネ　ノ
HA, HI, HU, HE, HO - ハ　ヒ　フ　ヘ　ホ
MA, MI, MU, ME, MO - マ　ミ　ム　メ　モ
YA, YU, YO - や　ゆ　よ
RA, RI, RU, RE, RO - ラ　リ　ル　レ　ロ
WA, N - ワ　ン

As you have seen from the word Juusu　（ジュース）, when a letter has to continue, they use a dash ー instead, to indicate that the last letter of the Katakana in front should be lengthened.

If you can't see these symbols, try using Wikipedia. They have good pictures of each symbol.

 

[zabazor]

Sign me up for education...

I have to say that I don't get much of it at the moment. It is all very confusing. I get that there are two different language systems, and I get why. But with some of your words you made, I could not figure out how you did it.

Like [juusu] ジュース. In Katakana is ウ, not ス. And the [Ju] you have I can not find anywhere.

I am sorry if this is not meant to be understood yet and if I am jumping the gun.  

[koudelkaW]

zabazor

Sign me up for education...

I have to say that I don't get much of it at the moment. It is all very confusing. I get that there are two different language systems, and I get why. But with some of your words you made, I could not figure out how you did it.

Like [juusu] ジュース. In Katakana is ウ, not ス. And the [Ju] you have I can not find anywhere.

I am sorry if this is not meant to be understood yet and if I am jumping the gun.

Unfortunately the language systems are quite confusing.

For juusu, ju is ジュ and the ー takes the place of the u. Basically it's telling you to carry on the u for ju. ス is su. So, if you put them together, you get juusu.

Also, have you made sure that when you're typing with the Japanese keyboard, you're selecting Katakana?  

[zainith666]

Sign me up for this class, but so far I am completely confused from that dash mark. ^_^ but I want to learn, If I can.  

[Abbie913]

I would like to join smile  

[KatsumiBatei]

Ya for Japanese!!!! Is it still not to late to become a student? If not SIGN ME UP!!!!

 

[xXEmo Tori Bitesv--v]

I wanna learn! I can only say hello and goodmorning. Hello=Konnichiwa, Goodmorning=hai  

[koudelkaW]

tori bites v--v

I wanna learn! I can only say hello and goodmorning. Hello=Konnichiwa, Goodmorning=hai

Actually, "hai" means "yes".  

[koudelkaW]

LESSON ONE

Before we begin, I'm going to list some resources that I will likely be using for these lessons. These are books that I myself have been using to study Japanese.

Read and Speak Japanese by Helen Bagley (My Japanese teacher at night school)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Read-Speak-Japanese/dp/1903103150/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278731794&sr=8-2

Japanese Berlitz Concise Dictionary
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Japanese-Berlitz-Concise-Dictionary-Dictionaries/dp/9812680209/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1278732017&sr=1-2


Greetings:

Greetings are usually time specific. The morning greetings are said until 11am, after which you would use the word for hello. At 6pm, you would use the evening greeting.

Mornings (until 11am): Ohayou / Ohayou gozaimasu = Good morning

Ohayou おはよう - This is the less formal version. You would typically use this for friends or family members.

Ohayou gozaimasu　おはよう　ございます - The formal version. This is used for people you either do not know very well, or who are something higher than you. For example, a student would use this greeting for their teacher.

Daytime (from 11am to 6pm) Konnichiwa こんにちは = Hello

Evening (6pm onwards) Konbanwa　こんばんは = Good evening

Sayounara さようなら = Goodbye

Oyasumi nasai おやすみ　なさい = Goodnight

When you leave your house, you don't just say goodbye. There are special words for this situation.

Ittekimasu いってきます = I'll go and come back

Anybody who is still in the house will say:

Itterasshai いってらっしゃい = Please go and come back

When you return to your house you say:

Tadaima ただいま = I'm home

Anybody in the house will say:

Okaeri nasai おかえり　なさい = Welcome home

Homework:

Listen to the words online and practice speaking them.
To practice the Hiragana, check the article on Wikipedia. Each Hiragana page has an animation showing the stroke order of each symbol (stroke order is very important in Japanese!)

It's kind of hard to check homework like this. If possible for you, you can record yourself speaking the words and send the file to me (PM for e-mail address). You can also take pictures of your Hiragana drawing for me to check also.

So pretty much, the homework I will take your word for. I expect you to be honest when telling me that you have done it.

I'll post another part of the lesson next Saturday. Feel free to prod me if I haven't, I am rather forgetful at times smile  

[Abbie913]

well I wrote up the words and stuff and practiced the wording. Though I can't turn in a recording here are some pics of the written up part:

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg151/Abbie913/Mobile Uploads/2010-09-25_190350.jpg

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg151/Abbie913/Mobile Uploads/2010-09-25_190409.jpg

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg151/Abbie913/Mobile Uploads/2010-09-25_190422.jpg

on the bottom of the last page I have some more practice work with the greetings smile